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I've got a NUSM-001(BRA), probably because I live in Brazil and my console was manufactured here, I wonder if it has the same guts of an American N64 NUSCPU-001 console. It does play NTSC games, and everything American related works on it, with exception of Hey You Pikachu! (They say that this game, by needing English-only voice commands, was not suitable to the Brazilian audience--Portuguese speakers--so they made a lock of sorts that prevent this game from running in a Brazilian console.)

Before showing pictures of my Brazilian N64, I'd like to give a little more background:

During the 80s and 90s, two major companies manufactured videogame consoles here in Brazil.

TEC TOY did Sega related products, and had an awesome support for their nationalized consoles. To the point they provided full game translations and even their own games. It was a company that made electronic toys (as you can guess from the name), and made so much success here, that Brazil is one of the few markets where the Master System beat the s* out of the NES.

This company still exists, and still manufactures cheapo Megadrives and Master Systems, not too long ago it produced it's own console, named Zeebo, a complete commercial failure. It still makes cheapo DVD players and other electronics. They made every Sega system ever released here (and even some that don't exist anywhere else in the world) from the Master System to the Dreamcast (including games and accessories).

GRADIENTE did Nintendo related products, often under the name Playtronic. Their support was good, but not as great as Tec Toy's. Unlike TecToy though, Gradiente was specialized at electronics such as TVs and Stereos, I remember they made awesome Hi-Fi audio equipment back in the 80s. (It actualy made products so good, that it was hard to choose between an big branded product, like Sony or Panasonic, or a Gradiente product). It started in the game industry with the NES, and produced every nintendo console from that to the Game Cube (games and accessories too). After that, it went bankrupt, and no longer made consoles or any other electronics.

Right now, Gradiente is slooooowly coming back from the grave, releasing (not so great) tablets and smart phones in the market. However, is not even a shadow of what in once was.

Sony? Well, it wasn't officially present in the country as far as videogames go, so basically anything you bought was imported.

Now that you had a little background, let's look at the Gradiente/Playtronic Nintendo 64, shall we?

Warning sticker written in portuguese, it reads: "Do not remove the Jumper from the console. Check the instruction manual."

Serial number from Gradiente. Most of it's products have this same sticker.

Cartridge slot, you can see it's got the american's N64 physical locks for the cartridges.

Now to the AC Adapter....

Euro standard plug. Here most of our wall outlets support both american and euro plugs, though brazilian companies can only use the euro standard on their electronics.

"Warning: Only for domestic use.-Use only with the Nintendo 64 console.-Do not open, risk of electric shock."Below that is where the PSU was assembled, again, in Manaus.

Self explanatory. The ony fun fact about it is that it is in fact, a multi voltage PSU. We have both 127V and 220V here in Brazil. 220V is more common to the north, 127V is more common to the south, like where I live. And yes, it does work with 110V.

How it looks when the PSU is plugged in. I've heard it is bigger and sticks out a little bit more than the american PSU, I can't confirm that as I have never compared both.

Voltage output pinout.

The controller...

By the side is my copy of Pokemon silver, also made by Gradiente.

Another sticker saying where it was assembled, and that it was licensed by Nintendo.

The weird part is..."MADE IN JAPAN"?? xD Maybe they didn't want to waste time in customizing the plastic shell. lol

With my Transfer Pak, this one is american.

As you can see, works with foreign accessories.

The game cartridges....

Both made by Gradiente, note that the Mario 64 has the PLAYTRONIC logo instead of the Gradiente logo on the Pokemon Stadium.Both games are in english, no difference whatsoever in the gameplay from the american version you all know.As you can see from my Stadium 2 and Pokemon Silver cartridges, they came with normal labels, here they don't have that metallic shine on them, shame.

Backside of the cartridges.

Serial sticker from Gradiente.The back label has all the standard stuff in portuguese."The system must be turned off before inserting or removing the cartridge.Do not turn on and off the system repeatedly.Do not blow or touch the conector with your fingers.Do not let it get wet, nor expose it to high temperatures.Check the instruction manual for extra precautions and details on maintenace."As expected, assembled in Manaus.

Well this is it for today. I still have the box of this system (though it's not in good shape), and I'll take pictures later.Internal pictures I'll try to take tomorrow.

Well, I'd say Gradiente was the one to contact Nintendo, asking for permission to manufacture their stuff.

Playtronic is basically the name they choose for this association. It's rather funny as some stuff keep the "Gradiente" logo despite that. xD

In the end of the 80s, Nintendo was not interested in selling the NES over here anymore, so Gradiente (very smart) produced it's own clone.It was massively popular back then. It was called "Phantom System".It was basically a NES, in a Atari 7800 body, and with 2 Sega Genesis/Mega Drive controllers. It had AV out, and came with a light gun.I've had one in my hands, it was awesome, really. Much, much better than ANY official console.Best game library + best case design + most modern controllers avaible at the time + cheap = Killing combo.

Gradiente made their own clone cartridges to go with the Phantom System, all the plastic cases in black (I suppose it's to match the color of the console) and rounded top. The games were the same from the NES, but with different labels and names on them.

To be honest, I don't know, I'm sure it can play NTSC games (american games), but I've never tried any PAL games on it, they're rare around here. I belive that, if they have the same physical shape (or if you use an adapter), they should work, or so I've heard.

As far as I know, the following games don't work on the brazilian console:Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sin and Punishiment, Bangaioh and Hey You Pikachu!.

As these consoles output video in PAL-M, I wouldn't be surprised if it had a different video chip from the rest.Maybe it can output RGB natively. Now that would be awesome. xD

Ah!Remember when I told you that Gradiente used to make awesome stuff back in the 80s?This is the Gradiente System One:

Well, it does say not to remove the jumper pak from the console. You were lucky to see that sticker as most of the consoles have used an Expansion Pak at some point, losing that sticker forever. My N64 has never used one of those.

Oh, another thing that you would like to know.Here, the "Funtastic" colored N64s are not named after their color names. Like, mine would be called something like clear black, or smoke, anywhere else in the world, but here, they're all named after FLAVOURS! The Funtastics Series is called "Multi-Sabores" here, wich really translate into "Multi Flavours".

Mine would be the "Jabuticaba", a fruit native of Brazil.

The purple one is called "Uva", wich translates to "Grape".

The light blue is called "Anis" , wich you should know as "Anise".

The green one is the "Kiwi", you all know what it is. xD

The orange one is the "Tangerina", wich is the portuguese of "Tangerine".

That's why the PS1 prevailed over here too, even if it wasn't officially supported here.

Some retailers though, marketed the PS2 and the PS3 as "DVD Players", to pay lower taxes and rise their profits.As both consoles can play DVDs, it wasn't illegal. lol

Quote:

there's no NUS-NSME-BRA on Mario 64there's no NUS-NP3E-BRA on Pokemon Stadium 2

thinking of it, E (for English) wouldnt be the proper letter for Brazil, it could be P (for Portuguese) but since there's no such code on the cart, there's no way to prove it, unless this code is present on the box's flaps

Ah, got it now.

So the carts over there have like, a model, like the console and accessories. xD

I suspect it wouldn't have the P letter either, as the games are still in English, I would expect a B or BR. xD

Well, it looks like it has one those video chips that are harder to mod to RGB, so sad. xD

I wonder if it's possible to "revert" it to NTSC, I don't really like it being a PAL-M unit, this standard is known for having low fidelity with colors... Most TVs nowadays work with anything you throw at them anyways.

Or maybe I should just buy a new motherboard (NTSC-U), with an easier to mod video chip? Hmmm...

To make it like US console just change the PIF (M)-NUS chip for one that comes from a US or JPN console PIF-NUS (I think). You shouldn't need to change the oscillating clock as it's already running at the right speed for NTSC format.

Interestingly, that is first time I've ever seen an N64 with a PIF(M) chip on it, the (M) obviously meaning PAL-M.

Thanks for sharing your pics

As I said before, PAL-M works at 60hz, that's why the oscillating clock is the same as the NTSC.

Well, I guess is still easier to replace the whole motherboard then. As we don't come across NTSC-U consoles here that often. xD

The main reason I want a NTSC unit isn't even the colors, but because my Pokemon Stadium displays an unusual behavior when you go to the GB Tower to run a Gameboy game...

The screen is displayed more to the right, so it's not correctly centered. And that pisses me off as I like to play gameboy games on TV, using my N64. I dunno if that's a problem related to the PAL-M console, or if it's related to the latest PCB designs no matter the area.

And I know the problem isn't on the cartridge, as I've seen it running in a NTSC console before, and the screen was perfectly aligned on the GB Tower.